Nine essential wines for all your holiday feasting needs

PAIR WITH FISHPreiss-Zimmer Vieilles Vignes Riesling $19 | Alsace | 90 points
When smoked salmon, trout or even herring shows up as a first course , bold, refreshing riesling is just the thing. This one is lean, with honeyed peach, spice and petrol. Vintages. LCBO 292193Pair with Geoff Kitt’s latkes and smoked trout »

A RED FOR TURKEYCoyote’s Run 2010 Red Paw Pinot Noir$25 | Niagara | 89 points
Ontario pinot evokes cranberries, making it a slam dunk with turkey. This one has a whisper of wood smoke and enough edgy acidity to cut through the richest fare. Vintages. LCBO 79228Pair with Carl Heinrich’s deconstructed turkey with stuffing »

WELCOMING BUBBLYBailly Lapierre Réserve Brut Crémant de Bourgogne$18 | Burgundy | 90 points
Bracing Crémant de Bourgogne can easily pass for more expensive champagne. Serve this one while guests are arriving and settling in. With its nose of baked apple, tea biscuits and clover honey, nobody will know the difference. Vintages. LCBO 991562

PRE-MEAL TIPPLELillet Blanc $15.25 | France | 90 points
A vintage European treat, Lillet Blanc has a cult following among Toronto booze geeks. The barrel-aged sémillon-sauvignon blend gets its alcohol strength (17 per cent) from brandy, which imbues it with orange, licorice, cedar and nutmeg flavours. Serve as an aperitif with gin and an ice cube. Vintages. LCBO 322297

ONE LAST INDULGENCEOsborne Pedro Ximenez 1827 Premium Sweet Sherry $18 | Jerez, Spain | 93 points
Put a log on the fire, open the chocolates and indulge in PX. This well-aged beauty pours black and is as thick as molasses. It has extraordinarily rich flavours of raisins, walnuts and warm Arabic spices. It’s silky, with length that will stretch until dawn. Vintages. LCBO 47944

Scores: David Lawrason assigns scores on a 100-point scale. They reflect a wine’s overall quality.
A rating of 95 to 100 is outstanding; 90 to 94 excellent; 85 to 89 very good; 80 to 84 good.